Crafted Cocktails

I love a good cocktail, and fortunately for me, there are some restaurants in Baltimore with really good cocktail programs. But I don't always want to go out to drink. Sometimes I just want to pour myself some good booze and sip it in the privacy of my own home while watching the Orioles blow another game (nobody needs to see me cry in public). Although I like to think I'm a pretty good cook with some understanding of ingredients and flavors, that doesn't carry over to my cocktail-making abilities. They're pretty sad, so I appreciate all the assistance I can get in the form of bottled pre-mixed cocktail helpers.

I like the products from Crafted Cocktails--they're all-natural, sweetened with agave syrup (which we use all the time), and come in flavors like spicy watermelon and jalapeno pineapple. They also offer shrubs, which are old-fashioned sweet vinegar syrups that can be used in a cocktail or mixed with sparkling water to make a refreshing soda-type beverage. I was excited when the company was willing to send me bottles of the Moonlight Spicy Watermelon Mix, the Lanai Jalapeño Pineapple Mix, and both the blackberry and ginger shrubs. The ginger shrub is actually still unopened--Crafted Cocktail products come in really generously-proportioned bottles that need to be refrigerated after opening, so I am savoring them one at a time while conserving fridge space. I think the ginger flavor will be a great asset for cocktails closer to the holidays, so expect more posts to come toward the end of the year.

Right now, I'd like to share three cocktail recipes with you using the products I have tried. More can be found at http://www.craftedcocktails.net/recipes.html.

Blackberry Bramble

Blackberries
1 1/2 oz gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz agave syrup
1/2 ounce Crafted Cocktails Blackberry Shrub
Ginger beer

Muddle 6 blackberries with the gin, lemon, and agave until they have broken and released their juices. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and add the shrub. Top off with a splash of ginger beer. Garnish with blackberries and lemon.

Jalapeño Pineapple Margarita

1 part blanco tequila
3 parts Lanai Jalapeño Pineapple Mix
Lime wedge or sliced jalapeno

Pour into a martini glass. Garnish with lime and or jalapeno.

La Jefa

1 part blanco tequila
3 parts Moonlight Spicy Watermelon Mix
Squeeze of fresh lime

Pour into a margarita glass with salted rim. Garnish with fresh lime wedge and sliced jalapeno

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Tomatillo Soup

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 18, 2014.

Once in a while I taste something in a restaurant that I feel I must duplicate at home. The tomatillo soup with caramelized tomatoes and cilantro that my brother ate at SoBo Cafe recently was one of those dishes. I had coincidentally just purchased a pound of tomatillos at the farmers' market, so it seemed like something I *needed* to make.

It seemed simple enough to reconstruct the dish. I could tell there was a creamy element to the soup, as well as a nice smoky dose of chipotle pepper. For the caramelized tomato element, I'd just make some oven-roasted tomatoes, like the ones in this recipe, only with a bare tablespoon each of the balsamic and olive oil, and no garlic.

With the help of a blender, I put together a soup that seemed pretty darn close to SoBo's version. It was tangy, creamy, and refreshing, with a bit of sweetness from the tomatoes. I loved it, but Mr Minx thought it was too tart. If you make it and find that to be the case, you could always add a bit more honey or agave syrup to the soup to balance out the tangy tomatillos.

Creamy Chilled Tomatillo Soup

1/2 onion, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
Pinch salt
1 pound fresh tomatillos, rinsed after husking
1 big handful cilantro leaves and stems
1 teaspoon chipotle powder (you could also used minced chipotle in adobo, but it could affect the color of the soup)
1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup
1/2 cup full fat or 2% Greek yogurt
Salt to taste
Caramelized tomatoes
Cilantro for garnish

Cook the onion in the olive oil and salt until translucent. Set aside to cool. When cool, add to the pitcher of a blender along with the tomatillos and cilantro. Puree the vegetables and then add the chipotle, honey, and yogurt and process again until smooth. Season with salt to taste (a half teaspoon or so).

If you want a smoother soup, pass the tomatillo/cilantro mixture through a sieve before adding the seasonings and yogurt.

Garnish each serving with 3-4 tomatoes and some cilantro leaves.

Makes about a quart.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Tomatillo Soup

Once in a while I taste something in a restaurant that I feel I must duplicate at home. The tomatillo soup with caramelized tomatoes and cilantro that my brother ate at SoBo Cafe recently was one of those dishes. I had coincidentally just purchased a pound of tomatillos at the farmers' market, so it seemed like something I *needed* to make.

It seemed simple enough to reconstruct the dish. I could tell there was a creamy element to the soup, as well as a nice smoky dose of chipotle pepper. For the caramelized tomato element, I'd just make some oven-roasted tomatoes, like the ones in this recipe, only with a bare tablespoon each of the balsamic and olive oil, and no garlic.

With the help of a blender, I put together a soup that seemed pretty darn close to SoBo's version. It was tangy, creamy, and refreshing, with a bit of sweetness from the tomatoes. I loved it, but Mr Minx thought it was too tart. If you make it and find that to be the case, you could always add a bit more honey or agave syrup to the soup to balance out the tangy tomatillos.

Creamy Chilled Tomatillo Soup

1/2 onion, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
Pinch salt
1 pound fresh tomatillos, rinsed after husking
1 big handful cilantro leaves and stems
1 teaspoon chipotle powder (you could also used minced chipotle in adobo, but it could affect the color of the soup)
1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup
1/2 cup full fat or 2% Greek yogurt
Salt to taste
Caramelized tomatoes
Cilantro for garnish

Cook the onion in the olive oil and salt until translucent. Set aside to cool. When cool, add to the pitcher of a blender along with the tomatillos and cilantro. Puree the vegetables and then add the chipotle, honey, and yogurt and process again until smooth. Season with salt to taste (a half teaspoon or so).

If you want a smoother soup, pass the tomatillo/cilantro mixture through a sieve before adding the seasonings and yogurt.

Garnish each serving with 3-4 tomatoes and some cilantro leaves.

Makes about a quart.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

The Corner Pantry

Chef Neill Howell won the Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament in 2013, when he was working at Bond Street Social. I managed to snag the restaurant for a slot in our cookbook, Baltimore Chef's Table, but chef Howell had other plans. When he left Bond Street Social to open his own place, I transferred his info to a sidebar. Sadly, that sidebar was cut by our ruthless editor (along with a bunch of other stuff). Yes, Neill, I am apologizing again.

Turns out, change is good. Although he's not in the book, he is cooking up a storm at the Corner Pantry, a Balto-British cafe in Lake Falls Village. Recently, Mr Minx and I were invited to a media dinner hosted by chef Howell and his wife, Emily.

The Corner Pantry is located in the spot that used to house Banksy's. Gone are the faux-Burberry wall decorations; they've been replaced by fresh white subway tile and a large stainless counter atop which sit the day's wares. The first thing one notices is the pastries made by pastry chef, Julie Sutula: scones; crumpets; pop tarts; cookies, muffins; biscuits; and even Cornish pasties (a meat pie). Next to that is the cold counter, which holds the day's selection of salads and proteins. For $10.99 a pound, customers can load up on goodies like salmon, kimchi soba noodle salad, rice and cauliflower salad, etc., to eat there or to take home. A variety of breakfast and lunch sandwiches are also available, plus a few other dishes from the kitchen.

A selection of menus

We were served items from both the cafe and the catering menu. It was quite a lovely spread, and I'm betting chef Neill and Emily do a bang-up job with catering. The crab and corn fritter, which we were served as a passed app, was delightful. Scrummy, as they say across the pond.

Biscuits with tomato bacon jam

On the table were plates of Sutula's moist biscuits, which were hard to stop eating with a dollop of Chef Neill's tomato bacon jam.

Ploughman's Board

We started dinner in earnest with the Ploughman's board. Typically, a ploughman's lunch includes bread, cheese, and a thick brown vinegary chutney-like stuff called Branston pickle. After having a particularly constipating one in England in the 80s, simply hearing the word "ploughman," saddens me. But the ploughman's at Corner Pantry is a delight of tangy, toasty, and meaty elements. We were served tender ham hock, some toasted raisin spelt bread, a dollop of goat's cheese, a wee Scotch quail egg, and a bowl of piccalilli relish.

Kimchi soba noodle salad

The main course was served family style and included the restaurant's popular kimchi soba noodle salad. We're big fans of soba, our noodle of choice for cold salads. Chef Neill's was spicy and garlicky and so good we came back for more a couple days later.

Lamb Kofte with buttermilk tahini

Another dish off the catering menu is lamb kofte lollipops, which were served with a buttermilk tahini dressing. The kofte, elongated meatballs of Middle Eastern origin, were moist and redolent of cumin. (We also snagged a couple more of these when we came back for a repeat visit on the weekend.)

Roasted peach salad

The roasted peach salad included local peaches and Big City farms greens (which are also available for purchase in the grab-and-go case at the back of the restaurant) along with red onions--a delicious combination of ingredients for a simple tossed salad.

Roasted rockfish

We also tasted rockfish, simply roasted and served with lemon. This is something that would typically be a featured protein on the cold counter, like the roasted salmon that was available recently. Simple but very good. There was also a side dish of lemony rainbow chard (not pictured) that I could not stop eating.

Donut hole on passion fruit butterscotch and tiramisu

Dessert, of course, was also served. There was a lovely little tiramisu served in a mason jar, and a donut hole with passion fruit butterscotch. Say yes to passion fruit butterscotch! It was fab. Donuts are a Saturday special at the Corner Pantry, and if you're lucky, that donut hole/butterscotch combo will be featured. (Check their Facebook page for Donut Saturday announcements.)

We also took home a selection of the Corner Pantry's baked goods, all of which were uniformly delicious and made a fine breakfast the next morning.

Just a couple days later, I decided I didn't want to cook dinner. We don't live far from the Corner Pantry, so we popped in for some carry-out, which included roast salmon, kimchi soba salad, kofte, and a crab cake, which was one of the week's kitchen specials. And I must say...it was very special.

Crab cake and salad with homemade tartar sauce

Made with Maryland crab meat, this baby was almost all meat. I didn't notice any filler at all, and the seasoning had a lovely lemon flavor. Chef Neill may be from the UK, but it seems that his soul is firmly in Baltimore. I highly recommend this crab cake, so be sure to give it a try if it's available!

We recommend everything at the Corner Pantry, actually, and are happy that we finally had a chance to get there. We hope to become regulars. :)

For more info on menus, catering, etc., check out the Corner Pantry Web site:
http://www.corner-pantry.com/



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Saigon Remembered

We were going to spend the day in Fells Point, but my allergies were kicking my ass so much, I couldn't walk and breathe at the same time. And there's lots of walking to be done in Fells Point. So we stayed home. I scrounged around the medicine cabinet and found a decade-old Sudafed, which I popped while cursing the fact that the stuff is hard to get a hold of these days. Fkn meth addicts. Eventually I was able to breathe well enough to walk from the parking lot to a restaurant, so we discussed where we should go for dinner. Not to Fells Point, since Towson and environs were so much closer. Granted, there's not as much choice for good grub in the 'burbs, but we do ok.

One restaurant we hadn't been to in ages had moved to a new location a couple years back, so it seemed like a good idea to revisit the place. Saigon Remembered, once across the street from the Senator Theater, is now in a shopping center on Cranbrook Road in Cockeysville. The new digs are smaller and prettier, simple and elegant with light colors and white tablecloths. The menu seemed less voluminous than in the past. I once found it a bit intimidating, but now it was easy to navigate.

I knew right away that I wanted their grape leaves appetizer. Absolutely nothing like the familiar Mediterranean preparation stuffed with rice and sauced with lemon, the Vietnamese version is stuffed with tender marinated beef before being skewered and grilled. While not as charred as the ones I've eaten at Saigon Remembered in the past, these were still delicious, especially when dipped in the little ramekin of nuoc cham. Nuoc cham is the ubiquitous dipping sauce of Vietnam, made with fish sauce, garlic, sugar, and rice vinegar and/or lime juice. It's savory, sweet, and tangy all at the same time and perfect with pretty much everything on the table.

That include the rolls that we also ordered. Saigon Remembered has a large selection of the soft rice paper-wrapped rolls that are sometimes called summer rolls. They are typically filled with vermicelli noodles, herbs, and a protein or two. We chose grilled shrimp for ours, and I must say I was a bit disappointed. While Mr Minx seems to have received a whole shrimp in his roll, mine was mostly noodles. For $7.50, I expect a bit more, especially since I can make these at home fairly easily.

We also tried the papaya salad, which was quite different from the spicy and sour Thai version we are used to. At Saigon remembered, the shredded green papaya has a sweet, but not spicy, dressing, and includes a generous amount of both medium shrimp and bits of pork, plus the unexpected addition of Thai basil. The accompanying dish of nuoc cham and giant fried shrimp chips added punches of extra flavor and crunch.

After we polished of our appetizers, we headed on to entrees. I ordered the golden crepe, which I had never had before. It was huge and resembled a giant omelette. The crepe itself was light and crisp, embedded with bits of shrimp and onion and filled with a plethora of bean sprouts. The filling was a bit bland, but livened up when I added the nuoc cham, pickled carrot and daikon, and Thai basil on the side.

Mr Minx went for the chicken in a clay pot. The chicken and black mushrooms over a layer of steamed rice were bathed in a rather pungent and savory ginger sauce, without a hint of the sweetness we're used to in Vietnamese food (keep in mind we've never been to Vietnam!). I'm not sure how I felt about the dish, but Mr Minx seemed to like it quite a bit.

I remember being disappointed when Saigon Remembered closed its doors a few years back, mostly because of the terrible loss of those beef-stuffed grape leaves. But now I can rest assured I can have them any time I want, along with a plethora of other Vietnamese dishes. Next time: pho.




Posted on Minxeats.com.